This invention relates to a watercraft and more particularly to a boarding ladder and water skiing attachment for a watercraft.
There are a wide variety of small personal watercraft that are designed primarily for sporting use and which are normally operated by the rider and the passengers wearing swimming suits. Because of the sporting nature of these watercraft, it is anticipated that the occupants will enter the body of water in which the watercraft is operating from time to time. When this occurs, it is desirable to permit the occupants or riders to reenter the watercraft from the body of water in which it is floating. With watercraft that are designed to carry more than one passenger, the hull will float at a relatively high level when the occupants are not on it and boarding may be difficult.
It is desirable, therefor, if the watercraft can be provided with a boarding ladder so as to facilitate reentry of the watercraft by a passenger from the body of water in which the watercraft is floating. However, with the small type of watercraft involved, such boarding ladders are difficult to employ and can be very cumbersome.
It is, therefor, a principle object of this invention to provide an improved boarding ladder for a small watercraft.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved boarding ladder that may be easily and conveniently stored within the body of the watercraft when not required and yet can be easily pulled out for use when desired.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a boarding ladder for a small watercraft that will be capable of being immersed to a fairly substantial depth in the body of water in which the watercraft is operating so as to facilitate reentry.
With the type of watercraft discussed, it is desirable if the watercraft can be employed as a tow vehicle for towing water skiers. If this done, however, there must be some convenient way of attaching the tow rope and this attachment should facilitate the necessary movement of the water skier relative to the towing watercraft.
It is, therefor, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved tow arrangement for a small watercraft.